198 



KEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



Aprh, 



some instances, in the utter annihilation of our 

 crops. As a general rule, we do not see thrift 

 and order in anything connected with a farm, 

 unless there are good fences to protect the 

 crops. 



Fences are important to the peace of neigh- 

 borhoods. The man who keeps good fence is 

 usually a good citizen and neighbor. Some 

 farmers act as though they thought every day's 

 work in building or repairing fences was lost. 

 I go to my neighbor and tell him that his fence 

 is down and needs repairing. Perhaps he will 

 say, "Well, I will fix it up." But he procras- 

 tinates, and it is not attended to. Again I 

 remind him that his poor fence exposes m) 

 crops. Again he promises, but the job is not 

 done. Finally I go and repair it myself. 

 Now, do not such men lack a principle that 

 holds the community and the world together 

 in peace and friendship. Some depend largely 

 on dogs for fencing purposes. This almost 

 imariably leads to trouble, — hard words or 

 hard feelings. 



I have found that posts cut from the first of 

 December to the first of March, last better 

 than those cut at any other season of the year. 

 I have put the top end in the ground some- 

 times, but find, as the top end is the smallest, 

 it will rot off quicker. 1 want my posts large. 

 If in a clay soil, they need to be put three feet 

 deep, and the dirt tamped in hard, so that the 

 post will be as solid as if it grew there. If 

 in sandy or gravelly land, two or two and a 

 half feet is as good as more, as they will not 

 heave out. 



Of late years, I have cut my logs for fence 

 from ten to eleven feet long, and have them 

 sawed into boards from nine to twelve inches 

 wide. I set a post at each length of boards, 

 without a middle post, so that, if any of the 



Eosts heave out, there is no harm done to the 

 oards. Where boards are 16 to 18 feet long, 

 you must have a middle post which breaks or 

 splits the boards in case it is raised more than 

 the posts at the ends of the boards. Lumber 

 is growing scarce, and soon we shall have to 

 resort to stone for fence. Stone wall is the 

 most permanent and durable of any fence, and 

 the cheapest in the end. But it is quite a 

 trade to take large stone and put them into a 

 good wall. 



I look around to see the young men who are 

 learning this trade, and though I regard it as 

 a matter of much importance to be able to 

 manage the large boulders that lie in our 

 fields, there are none in my neighborhood who 

 are serving the necessary apprenticeship. 



On my own farm, I take care to divide all 

 the outside fences with my neighboring abut- 

 ters, and to have such division properly re- 

 corded. This makes it a permanent thing, 

 and I am not troubled by any change of own- 

 ership that may take place in the adjoining 

 farms. O. Foster. 



Tunbridge, Vt., Jan., 1868. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THAT MORTGAGE ON THE FAKM. 

 How we Lifted It. 



In the Farmer of January 25, "C. B. E." 

 calls for experiences on lifting mortgages from 

 a farm. To encourage him and others in like 

 circumstances I attempt, for the first time, to 

 write for the press. 



Twenty-five years previous to my purchas- 

 ing the farm which I now own, I worked at 

 the boot and shoe business ; but being out of 

 employment for a longer or shorter time every 

 year, the wheels would sometimes roll back- 

 wards in spite of me. 



Hoping to better myself and get my boys 

 away from the temptations that always sur- 

 round the young in large villages, I began to 

 look for a farm; and by the direction of a 

 kind Providence, came to Dudley in February, 

 1855, and bought at auction a farm of one hun- 

 dred and ten acres for $3000. The 1st of March 

 moved on with wife and two boys, one in his 

 sixth and the other in his seventh year. For 

 farming tools, I had a wheelbarrow, shovel and 

 hoe, and $800 in cash to pay for farm, stock, 

 tools, horse, carriages, harnesses and hay. I 

 also owned one hundred acres of uncultivated 

 land in Illinois, which a few years before cost 

 me $350, which I sold and received the pay for 

 it in small driblets, so that at the expiration of 

 six years, I was in debt over thirteen hundred 

 dollars. 



To begin with, I bought, for cash, a yoke of 

 five-year-old oxen of good size, a horse, wagon, 

 harness, ox cart and a few other implements 

 of husbandry, leaving but about five hundred 

 dollars to pay for the farm. For the balance, 

 I borrowed money and gave two mortgages. 

 It was all borrow, borrow, and get trusted. 



Began with two cows for a dairy, two pigs, 

 and a few hens. The first year was a hard 

 tusr. I assure you. Things looked not only 

 dark but black sometimes. But we put our 

 trust in God, worked hard and took a long 

 look ahead. Our crops came in well, sold all 

 we could, and by the time winter came, had 

 our large cellar literally cranamed with provi- 

 sions and vegetables. 



The first winter we milked three farrow cows, 

 gave them plenty of carrots, made butter all 

 winter, which sold readily, and as we thought, 

 at a great price, thirty cents per pound. This 

 was a great help. 



We have increased our stock from year to 

 year, now generally numbering eight cows, 

 from which we make butter, except in the very 

 heat of summer we make new-milk cheese, — 

 rarely making both at the same time. I sell 

 but very little grain and no hay from the farm. 

 Sell some pork, beef, apples, butter, cheese and 

 vegetables, and have sold yearly, perhaps fifteen 

 cords of wood, of which there is about forty 

 acres on the farm — not very heavy, but young 

 and thrifty. 



Since purchasing the farm I have raised the 



